Caitlin and Alan get some corrections out in the open. Then we get back to talking about Quill Kipps! We can’t help ourselves. Later there are explosions- but fewer than Caitlin would like! And Lucy confronts Penelope alone. Listener vs Listener

Caitlin and Alan take a stroll through Dark London. Come stare at a portal with us as we learn the sinister truth of Penelope’s plan! Fences. We meet a limping ghost in a wide-brimmed hat, some living people harvesting plasm, and Ezekiel! Make sure to stick around for us complaining about Kipps- but not in the way you might think.

Caitlin and Alan address some corrections about necklaces. But then! We deal with home invaders on two fronts! Did George’s improvised spears help anything? Should the team have guessed Rupert Gale would show up? How could Lucy lose Skull AGAIN?!

Caitlin and Alan finish fortifying Portland Row and watch Lucy and Lockwood take a break under the garden apple tree. We dig into Skull’s backstory and wonder if he could “move on” from his captivity. Is Rupert Gale the same man that Marissa knew when she was young, or his descendant? How did wax, wood, and pouches contain the Sources of the ghosts that Lockwood’s parents stored away?

Caitlin and Alan witness the breaking and entering of The Orpheus Society. Is it OK to mock someone’s laugh? We lament the loss of “A Cartography of Dark London”. We imagine Ruby Stokes firing a proton pack at a room full of elderly industrialists. Come “Batman” on the rooftops of London with us as we read about a gang of teens stealing a book from a library!

Caitlin and Alan attend a meeting of small ghost-hunting agencies. We dwell on the details for way too long- like normal. We get terrible news about George. And Lockwood forms a plan while Lucy gives in to her rage.

Caitlin and Alan visit Inspector Barnes house, and get schooled in English poetry. Lucy dishes about Lockwood to her bestie- Skull. Barnes warns the agency to follow the rules or end up like Bunchurch. George presents his evidence for how The Problem started to the rest of the company.

Caitlin and Alan try our skills on the trapeze- and mostly successfully land! La Belle Dame is finally trapped while we talk horror tropes, how emotionally well-balanced characters are boring, and if this ghost matters to the plot of the book.

Caitlin and Alan go to the graveyard. We found the titular Empty Grave! Take a burning car ride towards inevitable death and then grab a cup of ectoplasm. Lockwood shares the resting place of his family, Skull shares the meaning of the afterlife, and we discuss George’s autism.

Caitlin and Alan talk about the French language and political problems in dystopias. Fictional dystopias… mostly. Lockwood and Co get a new client and we learn about the new normal at 35 Portland Row. We try to figure out how Skull can talk in the sunlight, and why Mr Tufnell feels so slimy.

Caitlin and Alan kick off the final book of Lockwood and Co “The Empty Grave” by Jonathan Stroud! We talk about traps in monuments, the fate of the royal family during the problem, and how great it is to read a finale WITHOUT interpersonal drama among the heroes.

Caitlin and Alan put on their Ghost CSI Monster INC suits and finish The Creeping Shadow! We wish Carlyle and Skull would happen, but we are grateful Lockwood and Co is back. We debate who the unexpected visitor is, ponder how old the protagonists of another Jonathan Stroud series are, and have a flashback to the Lockwood and Co TV show.

Caitlin and Alan finish Part Five: The Iron Chain of The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud. We talk about horror movies, the big Locklye moment in the spirit cape, and the reasons we didn’t become mad scientists. Throw some bombs randomly and join us in burning the place down.

Caitlin and Alan pull off a heist. OK maybe we don’t exactly pull it off. And by heist we mean- do a podcast about a book. But we do manage to discuss how Kipps has been sworn into all the secrets, Lucy wants ghost experiments to stop, and Lockwood can’t be stopped. Confessions are made, spirit cloaks are worn, and portals are entered.

Caitlin and Alan put on some goggles to see ghosts, then smash a matchstick ship model, and meet with a captain of industry. There is a lot of energy flying around… and it is compensating for- something. We get deep about possible time travel, but make time for ghost lore.

Caitlin and Alan take a trip to the country in Part 4 of The Creeping Shadow. We lean against the table in a leaderish way to explain why Penelope’s offer is insulting. Kipps joins the crew while everyone takes a trip to the countryside.

Caitlin and Alan descend into the London Underground and find Skull! Instead we find out just how useful those Spirit Capes are. We debate the meaning of pudding, the proper use of “tube,” and if a woman’s bathroom has less dignity than other rooms.

Caitlin and Alan find Portland Row has changed. Lucy’s room has George’s clothes everywhere, Lockwood wants Lucy to explore Jessica’s forbidden room, and the first Type Two we met is now named Abigail Ward. Errr actually no. No she is not. We also learn that being 40 is ancient and obviously it is good that Lockwood is opening up to Holly. Obviously.

Caitlin and Alan talk about mystery stories as Carlyle and Skull get very hardboiled. Grab a jacket potato and join the hunt for Skull’s kidnappers. We case the meeting place and get into a foot chase- well Lucy did because we don’t have the energy for all that. At least we get to return to 35 Portland Row.

Caitlin and Alan try to figure out why Penelope sent Quill Kipps on this case, why Lucy needs to be here, and if the Ealing Cannibal only had one victim. Take a tour of the house with us as we try to find the Source. Please not all the unique amenities like grease stained walls, human stew on the gas stove, and the human pool in the basement.